Do believers have visions and dreams today?

[GeneZ]

Do you think visions and dreams happen today?
“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions. Joel 2:28.

We can have dreams and visions that are not Joel 2:28 related.

They may simply be God providing Divine Guidance for a time in your life when most needed.

 

[Dave_Regenerated]

We can have dreams and visions that are not Joel 2:28 related.

They may simply be God providing Divine Guidance for a time in your life when most needed.

If they contain extra Biblical Revelation, they just aren't trustworthy enough. Like Charles Stanley saying God directed him to buy a chicken at the local supermarket.

 

[Mantis]

Oh yes I do, haha ... absolutely!

 

[Mantis]

Below copy and paste from a previous forum of my experience meeting Jesus. This was the most profound experience of my life. I know I need to post this in the testimony section but I feel its appropriate for this thread. I posted this probably seven or eight years ago so I am in a different place with my walk now. As far as this lining up with the Bible. Check out John 10:27. I found this passage AFTER meeting Jesus. Just mind blowing for me. He is my Lord and God. But anyway here is my testimony:

It started with sleep paralysis. I was choked by a shadow entity, it was terrifying. It was a very dark time in my life which I think attracts demons. At the time I was reading books and practicing lucid dreaming etc. I was also miserable and a drunk. Fornication was the norm, bars etc. My life was a hungover mess.

Well one night I had a moment of serious repentance. I was tired of living this life, trapped in sin. I started praying to God. I was open to the idea of God but didn't subscribe to any religion as I thought they were all man made. I thought christianity was the least likely of all of the religions to be true, but I knew in my heart that there was a God. I needed God and I knew it.

So I started praying in my bed one night. Just to "God" be it Buddha, Allah, spaghetti monster, YHWH or whoever God was. I was almost in a trance but well aware of my surroundings. I heard a voice, then two voices. Not audibly but more like a telepathic communication. I was floored. These were two male voices speaking to me. I started asking questions about the spirit world and they were answering my questions. Now the whole time we are having this conversation, they are speaking friendly to me but I can feel a sinister hate toward me from them. I knew it was a charade. I knew they were evil, I realized I had some spiritual discernment. The whole feel or vibe was very dark, so I asked "Is there any humor in the spirit world?" And right away one of the voices tells me a joke that had to do with the proliferation of the "Smith" family. I can't remember the joke but I remember laughing. Later I realized this was was a joke about the mormons and how the demons deceived millions of people to that cult.

Well about that time the whole vibe changes dramatically. I feel something very good approaching. I see closed eye visuals of these blue crystals growing and like out folding from each other. I say "God is here" and then I hear the two male voices say "What is he doing here?" and "I don't know" and they disappeared, they fled.

Then I hear my name called in a gentle voice...."Ian". Then again "Ian". I say "Yes?". Then he says "You have sinned against the Lord". I know who it is right away. It is Christ Jesus. I know the voice. And I realize some how from before time, we know each other and I am astonished.

I hang my head in shame. I don't even ask what my sin is, I have too many sins to count. I am lower than a worm. Now the whole time he is speaking I do not feel condemned. Instead I feel a love from him that is unlike anything I have ever experienced from earth born life. A love that is unimaginable. A love I never want to leave. I realize he is offering me a hope, salvation.

"You have sinned against the Lord. You have three choices. You can go to prison, die, or live with pain, extreme pain. But I will be with you and I will bless you and many people will come to the Lord through you."

I choose option #3.

He then says "If we are going to do this we need to be head to head, heart to heart and fist to fist."

This happened well over a decade ago. Well here I am today with extreme pain. I have extensive nerve pain from something in my back/spinal cord. I have spent over $25,000 trying to diagnose and fix my back. I walk with a cain most of the time. I had spinal cord stimulator surgery and I am heavily medicated. I have to go to physical therapy and chiropractor all the time. I can't stand, sit or drive for any decent amount of time. And as miserable as that sounds it gives me comfort. God is doing a work in me. I have came so far from that first meeting. I praise God, devour the Bible. I have been baptized. I love the Lord so much.

I am an introvert. I cannot see me being a preacher as those people are extroverts. I have no idea what his plans are for my life. I am the only christian in my family. I thank God for revealing himself to me and pulling me from darkness.

By his stripes we are healed, in God we trust.

 

[Dave_Regenerated]

Below copy and paste from a previous forum of my experience meeting Jesus. This was the most profound experience of my life. I know I need to post this in the testimony section but I feel its appropriate for this thread. I posted this probably seven or eight years ago so I am in a different place with my walk now. As far as this lining up with the Bible. Check out John 10:27. I found this passage AFTER meeting Jesus. Just mind blowing for me. He is my Lord and God. But anyway here is my testimony:

It started with sleep paralysis. I was choked by a shadow entity, it was terrifying. It was a very dark time in my life which I think attracts demons. At the time I was reading books and practicing lucid dreaming etc. I was also miserable and a drunk. Fornication was the norm, bars etc. My life was a hungover mess.

Well one night I had a moment of serious repentance. I was tired of living this life, trapped in sin. I started praying to God. I was open to the idea of God but didn't subscribe to any religion as I thought they were all man made. I thought christianity was the least likely of all of the religions to be true, but I knew in my heart that there was a God. I needed God and I knew it.

So I started praying in my bed one night. Just to "God" be it Buddha, Allah, spaghetti monster, YHWH or whoever God was. I was almost in a trance but well aware of my surroundings. I heard a voice, then two voices. Not audibly but more like a telepathic communication. I was floored. These were two male voices speaking to me. I started asking questions about the spirit world and they were answering my questions. Now the whole time we are having this conversation, they are speaking friendly to me but I can feel a sinister hate toward me from them. I knew it was a charade. I knew they were evil, I realized I had some spiritual discernment. The whole feel or vibe was very dark, so I asked "Is there any humor in the spirit world?" And right away one of the voices tells me a joke that had to do with the proliferation of the "Smith" family. I can't remember the joke but I remember laughing. Later I realized this was was a joke about the mormons and how the demons deceived millions of people to that cult.

Well about that time the whole vibe changes dramatically. I feel something very good approaching. I see closed eye visuals of these blue crystals growing and like out folding from each other. I say "God is here" and then I hear the two male voices say "What is he doing here?" and "I don't know" and they disappeared, they fled.

Then I hear my name called in a gentle voice...."Ian". Then again "Ian". I say "Yes?". Then he says "You have sinned against the Lord". I know who it is right away. It is Christ Jesus. I know the voice. And I realize some how from before time, we know each other and I am astonished.

I hang my head in shame. I don't even ask what my sin is, I have too many sins to count. I am lower than a worm. Now the whole time he is speaking I do not feel condemned. Instead I feel a love from him that is unlike anything I have ever experienced from earth born life. A love that is unimaginable. A love I never want to leave. I realize he is offering me a hope, salvation.

"You have sinned against the Lord. You have three choices. You can go to prison, die, or live with pain, extreme pain. But I will be with you and I will bless you and many people will come to the Lord through you."

I choose option #3.

He then says "If we are going to do this we need to be head to head, heart to heart and fist to fist."

This happened well over a decade ago. Well here I am today with extreme pain. I have extensive nerve pain from something in my back/spinal cord. I have spent over $25,000 trying to diagnose and fix my back. I walk with a cain most of the time. I had spinal cord stimulator surgery and I am heavily medicated. I have to go to physical therapy and chiropractor all the time. I can't stand, sit or drive for any decent amount of time. And as miserable as that sounds it gives me comfort. God is doing a work in me. I have came so far from that first meeting. I praise God, devour the Bible. I have been baptized. I love the Lord so much.

Why don't you know what the problem with your back or spine is even after paying $25,000 on it? That sounds off, big time.

I am an introvert. I cannot see me being a preacher as those people are extroverts. I have no idea what his plans are for my life. I am the only christian in my family. I thank God for revealing himself to me and pulling me from darkness.

By his stripes we are healed, in God we trust.

 

[Dave_Regenerated]

We can have dreams and visions that are not Joel 2:28 related.

They may simply be God providing Divine Guidance for a time in your life when most needed.

Another thing, I don't deny God can provide guidance, but why would a person assume that was God talking to them, even in the face of the fact that extra Biblical revelation isn't part of the way God works?

 

[GeneZ]

If they contain extra Biblical Revelation, they just aren't trustworthy enough. Like Charles Stanley saying God directed him to buy a chicken at the local supermarket.

What has one thing have to do with another?

Extra Biblical revelation is one thing and is outside of God's system today for the church as far as introducing a contrary teaching to the Word.

I have no idea why Charles Stanley had that dream. Do you? In what way was it relating to the Bible?

If God gave you a dream and showed you who you were to marry? Is that extra Biblical?

If God gave a dream and showed you a church you should attend when visiting a city? Is that extra Biblical?

Now if God allegedly gave you a dream and had you write a new chapter for the Bible?
Then you would not only have a problem. You would be a problem as well.

........

 

[ammi]

When I was 14, I got nagged into going to church. After the service, a church worker read John 3:16 to me. As he read it, I had a vision. In front of me, I saw a set of curtains. A hand holding a sword thrust through the curtains and sunk the sword deep into my belly. I instantly knew what I'd been told was true. The guy then led me in the sinner's prayer.
I didn't pick God and I couldn't stop believing in Him if I tried. Which at one point in my life, I did. My earliest memory was like my avatar picture. I recall thinking about it on my second birthday. I eventually concluded that it was from the instant God created me. The unapproachable light that He dwells in. The Lord says to Jeremiah the prophet that He knew him before he was in his mother's womb.
I take this to mean that life begins before we are in the womb. This would mean that all abortions are murder.

 

[Dave_Regenerated]

What has one thing have to do with another?

Extra Biblical revelation is one thing and is outside of God's system today for the church as far as introducing a contrary teaching to the Word.

I have no idea why Charles Stanley had that dream. Do you? In what way was it relating to the Bible?

If God gave you a dream and showed you who you were to marry? Is that extra Biblical?

If God gave a dream and showed you a church you should attend when visiting a city? Is that extra Biblical?

Now if God allegedly gave you a dream and had you write a new chapter for the Bible?
Then you would not only have a problem. You would be a problem as well.

........

I should have pointed out that Stanley did not have a dream or vision in that instance, but he claimed God told him to go to a specific store and buy a Turkey.

It sounds to me like you agree with that kind of leading of God and that God works that way in people's lives.

One has to do with the other precisely because people claim God speaks to them either audibly or outside of the Biblical revelation. Those two things are the difference between the sun and the moon compared to Special Revelation, as most Christians have understood it historically and today.

Extra Biblical revelation consists of the examples you gave here which you also believe in.

 

[GeneZ]

Another thing, I don't deny God can provide guidance, but why would a person assume that was God talking to them, even in the face of the fact that extra Biblical revelation isn't part of the way God works?

Biblical revelation, and having a dream from God, are not one and the same thing.

I had a dream ten years before attending a Bible College about that college.

At the time I had the dream? There was no Bible college there. And, only began to organize about
eight years after I had the dream. It was not as if I were dreaming about something that was in the
works at the time the dream was given.


God works differently with each one of us.

The fulfillment of that dream did not turn me into a holy roller shouting with emotional joy.
It made me a bit scared to realize that we are being effected by a supernatural life that God
wants us to grow in knowledge about as to begin to see where we fit in the big picture that
is going on all around us..

And....

I wonder if Charles Stanley kept the wishbone from that chicken? He was a good man.

But, his son reminds me that one of Isaac's sons was Esau. Andy is nothing like his dad.

..........

 

[Dave_Regenerated]

Biblical revelation, and having a dream from God, are not one and the same thing.

That's exactly what I said.

I had a dream ten years before attending a Bible College about that college.

At the time I had the dream? There was no Bible college there. And, only began to organize about
eight years after I had the dream. It was not as if I were dreaming about something that was in the
works at the time the dream was given.

You are describing what is known as a precognitive dream, which has other names like Deja Vu. This has nothing to do with the Bible and cannot be found in it. It's also a fairly common experience. The origin of it is unknown, but it has nothing to do with the Bible and it certainly isn't God "talking" to you.

God works differently with each one of us.

No. God works the same with everybody he saves.

The fulfillment of that dream did not turn me into a holy roller shouting with emotional joy.
It made me a bit scared to realize that we are being effected by a supernatural life that God
wants us to grow in knowledge about as to begin to see where we fit in the big picture that
is going on all around us..

And....

I wonder if Charles Stanley kept the wishbone from that chicken? He was a good man.

But, his son reminds me that one of Isaac's sons was Esau. Andy is nothing like his dad.

..........

 

[GeneZ]

I should have pointed out that Stanley did not have a dream or vision in that instance, but he claimed God told him to go to a specific store and buy a Turkey.

How else are we going to be tested to see how well we can "test the spirits?"

The demonic real works strongly in people hearing voices .....

God works strongly by his people knowing His Word with accuracy and by walking in the Spirit as they do.

 

[Dave_Regenerated]

How else are we going to be tested to see how well we can "test the spirits?"

The demonic real works strongly in people hearing voices .....

God works strongly by his people knowing His Word with accuracy and by walking in the Spirit as they do.

I didn't mention demons. But there's good reasons to think precognitive dreams come from the Devil.

 

[Mantis]

Why don't you know what the problem with your back or spine is even after paying $25,000 on it? That sounds off, big time.

Well I have been diagnosed with degenerative disc disease, bulging disc and arthritis. Like I say this testimony was from years ago.

 

[Dave_Regenerated]

Well I have been diagnosed with degenerative disc disease, bulging disc and arthritis. Like I say this testimony was from years ago.

God can heal you, you know? Or don't you know it? James, Peter, and John write that if you pray to God and you know it is in accordance with His will because He shows you it is and you don't pray for selfish reasons to use on your own pleasures, which means you are living a totally Holy life, God will answer your prayer for your spine and bone healing.

Are you living a holy life?

 

[Mantis]

God can heal you, you know? Or don't you know it? James, Peter, and John write that if you pray to God and you know it is in accordance with His will because He shows you it is and you don't pray for selfish reasons to use on your own pleasures, which means you are living a totally Holy life, God will answer your prayer for your spine and bone healing.

Are you living a holy life?

This pain is Gods will. I absolutely know he can heal me and I think maybe one day he will, when I learn the lessons I am supposed to learn through this.

Am I living a Holy Life? I dunno. I would have to ask Jesus. All I can do is try to be a good person. Be honest, love God and love others. We have the true law in our heart now. We know what is right and wrong. I have peace through the pain and patients and gratitude now. But I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to live a holy life without Jesus. We are flawed beings in a fallen world.

 

[Dave_Regenerated]

This pain is Gods will. I absolutely know he can heal me and I think maybe one day he will, when I learn the lessons I am supposed to learn through this.

Am I living a Holy Life? I dunno. I would have to ask Jesus. All I can do is try to be a good person. Be honest, love God and love others. We have the true law in our heart now. We know what is right and wrong. I have peace through the pain and patients and gratitude now. But I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to live a holy life without Jesus. We are flawed beings in a fallen world.

Okay. It's still possible for healing. God's answer is sometimes "no", no matter how long you live.

 

[GeneZ]

I didn't mention demons. But there's good reasons to think precognitive dreams come from the Devil.

Some do. Some don't.

That means we are left in the position to prove all things.

 

[GeneZ]

Are you living a holy life?

I am afraid to ask...

What to you constitutes a holy life?

 

[GeneZ]

This pain is Gods will. I absolutely know he can heal me and I think maybe one day he will, when I learn the lessons I am supposed to learn through this.

Am I living a Holy Life? I dunno. I would have to ask Jesus. All I can do is try to be a good person. Be honest, love God and love others. We have the true law in our heart now. We know what is right and wrong. I have peace through the pain and patients and gratitude now. But I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to live a holy life without Jesus. We are flawed beings in a fallen world.

Holy Life....

A moral life is for both unbeliever and believer. Being a good person is for both unbeliever and believer.

So, being that way does not please God as far as Him seeking His righteousness to be found in us.

How does one love God?
Look to Heaven and feel good emotions towards God?
Do good deeds on purpose and think God smiles down upon us?

Pleasing God is done by the Word of God transformation - having Christ formed in us - and God seeing a reflection of His righteousness
being manifested in our soul.

John 1:1 tells us that He is the Word of God, and is God.

John 1:4, tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelled amongst us.

He wants us to become more and more the Word taking over our flesh.
Becoming transformed inwardly into the image of Christ.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ​

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being ​

transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from ​

the Lord, who is the Spirit." 2 Cor 3:17-18​

That "ever increasing glory" comes from an ever increasing learning and understanding of sound doctrine done in the filling of the Spirit.

Having a holy life will be determined by how much we seek out to be shown and taught sound doctrine. How much we dedicate our time to learning the Word of God from a competent Pastor-teacher. That will determine if we love God.

Or, a "holy life" will only be no more than having a self induced emotional experience that we like to call loving God.

In Christ .............. grace and peace